One-line solution summary:
Psychometrically matching students/citizens/veterans to 1-5 Careers, showing the skills needed and how to get skilled and then into a job.
Pitch your solution.
MyVerse psychometrically matches Citizens/Students/Veterans to Careers via our proprietary software which uses Algorithms, AI and Machine Learning putting them in the right Career or Post Secondary Course/Program.
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
MyVerse is solving:
1)95% of Students leaving High School who do not know what or who they will be
2)40MM+ newly unemployed Americans due to COVID
3)A shortage of skilled workers globally: (McKinsey & Co – June 2012 Global Report)
- 38 million+ fewer workers with tertiary education than employers will need.
- 45 million too few workers with secondary education in developing economies, or 15 percent of the demand for such workers
- 90 million to 95 million more low-skill workers (those without college training in advanced economies or without even secondary education in developing economies) than employers will need, or 11 percent oversupply of such workers
4) Economic and WorkForce Boards issues around getting their citizens back to work
5) Greatly reducing the 52% drop-out rate in Higher Edu
6) Reducing the Veteran Homeless population
7) Reducing the return of Parolees to back to prison
What is your solution?
MyVerse use a validated (based off a sample of 772,000 people) color assessment tool using Psychometrics, AI and Predictive Analysis.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Enable learners to make informed decisions about which pathways and jobs best suit them, including promoting the benefits of non-degree pathways to employmentWho does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
1) High Schools - fill the void of no Counselors
2) Higher Ed - Increase Retention, reduce the drop-out rate, reduce recruiting costs
3) Citizens - putting the into the right job based on them
4) Students - who/what will I be?
5) Veterans - who/what will I be after leaving the DOD
6) Economic/Workforce Development Boards:
- What Skills their Citizens have
- Increased Tax Base
- Job Development, Retention, and Attraction
- Business Retention
- Economic Diversification
- Productive Use of Property
- Improved Quality of Life
7) Parolees - Train them before leaving prison for a better future of employment.
Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the US Challenge and your selected dimension.
Once students/citizens/veterans/parolees/etc get matched to their Career, and after the video, we provide the a DashBoard - (https://vimeo.com/351687119 Password: Myverse).
And if they need to be Skilled, UpSkilled, ReSkilled, we send them to our partners like Penn Foster etc.
Once they are Skilled, UpSkilled, ReSkilled, they come back to MyVerse and working with State/County WorkForce, Dept of Labors WARN Notices and with Employers in that State/County who have open jobs.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
San Jose, CA, USAIn which US state(s) will you be operating within the next year?
What is your solution’s stage of development?
Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growthWho is the team lead for your solution?
Wayne Sharp
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: What is your approach to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization?
Our approach is simple, the best person for the role regardless of race, sexuality, shape, gender. We are even looking to employ autistic people.
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new application of an existing technologyDescribe what makes your solution innovative.
Competitors - HoloIQ says there are 24 solutions in Career Readiness, the problem is, none of them do what we do.
Why most tools have failed at this and why we have such and big problem is that they use personality tests which have zero to do with your Career.
MyVerse begins with a simple preference test asking people to choose most favorite and least favorite colors from various groupings. Our test was derived from earlier work by Dr. Max Lüscher of Basel, Switzerland who developed the Lüscher-Color-Diagnostic test. This test sorted people into psychometric categories based on their color preferences, which Dr. Lüscher found to be correlated “meanings” (akin to psychological drives) that were more or less important to them. While Lüscher’s test places test subjects into personality types that are different from those calculated by other popular psychological test instruments commonly used for adults such as the MMPI, DISC, and OCEAN (Big Five Personality Traits) tests, some reviewers found Lüscher’s test to be more useful in discriminating personality traits among children[3] and others (e.g. non-native language speakers) where non-verbal testing may be preferred.
The MyVerse Color Test stands on top of the science behind the work of Dr. Lüscher. We are building on this work, focusing on students/citizens/veterans making better career plans.
Describe the core technology, if applicable, that powers your solution.
Our technology is proprietary, I am sure you can appreciate this.
Provide evidence that this technology works.
- Braun, Claude M.J; Bonta, James L (1979). "Cross-Cultural Validity, Reliability, and Stimulus Characteristics of the Luscher Color Test". Journal of Personality Assessment. 43 (5): 459–60. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4305_3. PMID 512812.
- Holmes, Cooper B; Buchannan, Jo Ann; Dungan, David S; Reed, Teresa (1986). "The Barnum effect in Luscher color test interpretation". Journal of Clinical Psychology. 42: 133–6. doi:10.1002/1097-4679(198601)42:1<133::AID- JCLP2270420122>3.0.CO;2-7.
- Lie N., A prospective-longitudinal study of adolescents: A review of projective methods selected for epidemiological research. Stockholm: Karolinska Institutet, 1979 (Lüscher-Test pp103–123); OCLC186952685
- Lie, Nils; Ford, C. V (1988). "Boys who became offenders". Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 77 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1111/j. 1600-0447.1988.tb10569.x. PMID 3279719.
- Lie, N.; Murarasu, D. (1996). "Prediction of criminality with the Lüscher Color Test. Is the Lüscher Color Test a possible instrument". Journal of Preventive Medicine. 4 (1): 47–51.7
- Murarasu D. Cosma M., The Psycho-social Relationships evaluated by Lüscher- Color-Test applied in subjects having predominant neuropsychical tasks. Institut of Medical Research, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania;
- Schutt D., Perceived Accuracy of Luscher Color Test Interpretation Ratings. California State University Los Angeles, 1999. 1544 Catalina Ave, Pasadena CA 91104-2406, USA
- Picco, Richard D; Dzindolet, Mary T (2016). "Examining the Lüscher Color Test". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 79 (3 Pt 2): 1555–8. doi:10.2466/pms. 1994.79.3f.1555. PMID 7870544.
- Donnelly, Frank A (2016). "The Luscher Color Test: A Validity Study". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 44: 17. doi:10.2466/pms.1977.44.1.17. Adels G. H., Validation of the Luscher-Color-Test as a screening instrument for emotional disturbance in schoolchildren, Diss. Boston University 1978;
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
What is your theory of change?
Testimonial:
'Our students are typically reluctant learners and need a great deal of support academically and in looking ahead to postsecondary planning and options. They seemed to find MyVerse interesting and staff did as well. It would be my recommendation to our Board that this assessment be used during student orientation to begin engaging students in discussions about their future; I think the program would help students to make connections from time of enrollment to the work that they do daily in reaching their goals. Our pilot indicated a recommendation be made by my team to promote its use from the start of next school year as a future planning tool rather than just a matching tool.'
From Jennifer Parker – Former Career Advisor at Edison Learning
Select the key characteristics of your target population.
How many people does your solution currently serve? How many people did your solution serve in 2019? 2018? 2017?
2019 - 360K, 2018 - 230K, 2017 - 122K, 2016 - 80K
What percent of the people you served in 2019 were between the age of 15 and 30?
What barriers currently exist for you to accomplish your goals in the next year and in the next five years?
Mentalities of outdated agencies like WorkForce Development.
What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?
Our Goal is to roll-out across the US in 2021, then head to India, followed by China, South America, Asia etc. This tool is for everyone.
How do you plan to overcome these barriers?
We pivoted up higher to the Economic Development Board as not only is it their pain, but they control the purse-strings for all other State depts and they have the ear of the Governor.
What outcomes data would you like to be collecting that you are not yet able to collect?
MyVerse will continually evolve so we don't see this as a problem.
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar modelsHow many people are on your leadership team? (Of these, please provide the number of individuals from your leadership team that are full time, part time, and volunteer)
4 - 1 FT, 3 PT
What is the number of individuals from my leadership team that attended community college for at least one year?
We don't ask, it's not where they came from, it's about - what can you bring to the company to grow us.
In what year was your organization founded? How many years have you worked on your solution?
Founded 2007, started 2010
Why are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
Founder - 25+ years in Management, Qualified Teen Mentor
CTO - Top performing engineering & product executive with a unique mix of strong business and leadership skills coupled with deep technical expertise in web system scalability and software engineering.
Career Site Director - Former President of California CTE (Career Technical Education) and County Director of CTE
Career Site Student Manager - High School Counselor of 20+ years
Future of Work Director - Singularity Uni Chair, co-founder of eParachute
What organizations do you currently partner with, if any? How are you working with them?
We are currently working with:
1) CALED (CA Local Economic Development) – Gurbax Sahota, CEO
2) CTC (CA Technology Council) - Matt Gardner, CEO
3) California Governors Cybersecurity Task Force: Chair of Workforce
4) Development and Education Subcommittee - Dr. Keith Clement
5) Chair of Future of Work, Singularity Uni – Gary Bolles, Co-Founder
6) Penn Foster
7) DOL (Veterans/Apprenticeships)
What is your business model?
State Economic Development Boards - Dashboard for all citizens which will sell based on percentage of citizens.
Colleges (1) - selling ‘profiles’ of Colleges on MyVerse for $50K. There are 8,000 colleges in the US. Just 10% of them is $40MM
Colleges (2) - we will also offer colleges qualified leads selling each for $1K. There are 19 million students going to college each year (in the US alone, not to mention, Brazil, China, India) and 10% of the US market is $1.9B.
Brands - we will invite only 14 Brands to be exclusive advertisers as Teens have an 80% influence over Brands in the home. Brands that are socially responsible.
Data - MyVerse is on track to growing one of the largest data warehouse depots due to collected psychometric and analytical data.
Licensing we intend to license the Career tool to Non-Profits helping Veterans & Parolees
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, or to other organizations?
Organizations (B2B)What is your path to financial sustainability?
Pipeline:
• Tallo - P.O.
• DOL - Veterans/Apprenticeships/COVID unemployed/DOD-TAP
• All 58 CA Counties (via CA WorkForce Assoc) - $14.5MM
• Chuck Schumer’s National WorkForce initiative - $150M
• Education World Forum Sponsor for 2022
If you have raised funds for your solution or are generating revenue, please provide details.
Previously raised $700K via Seed/Angel
If you seek to raise funds for your solution, please provide details.
We are currently out raising $250K-$1MM (Equity) but we are also close to sales which may delete the need for further Investment
What are your estimated expenses for 2021?
If we grow at the rate we believe we will based on sales Pipeline etc, we will be looking at expenses around $600K.
Why are you applying to the Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the US Challenge?
You want to fix the issue around WorkForce and getting people back to work after COVID - we are the only tool that can help you do that.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
What organizations would you like to partner with, and how would you like to partner with them?
Not so much organizations as much as State and Federal Economic/WorkForce Development.
Please explain in more detail here.
We are looking for a diverse Board of Directors, those who are Proactive and not Reactive, can literally move us forward globally.
Exposure? - everyone should know how awesome MyVerse is and can help them with a personalized path ahead.
Solution Team
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Wayne Sharp Founder/President, MyVerse
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Solution Name:
MyVerse